Muffat: Missa in labore requies Cappella Murensis & Les Cornets Noirs

• Georg Muffat (1653-1704): Missa in labore requies à 24:
• 1Kyrie: Sonata00:59
• 2Kyrie: Kyrie I01:53
• 3Kyrie: Christe01:05
• 4Kyrie: Kyrie II01:58
• 5Gloria: Et in terra pax01:36
• 6Gloria: Laudamus te01:48
• 7Gloria: Gratias agimus tibi01:03
• 8Gloria: Domine Deus01:01
• 9Gloria: Qui tollis peccata mundi03:53
• 10Gloria: Quoniam tu solus sanctus02:12
• 11Gloria: Cum Sancto Spiritu02:35
• 12Credo: Patrem omnipotentem01:18
• 13Credo: Et in unum Dominum02:52
• 14Credo: Qui propter nos homines02:16
• 15Credo: Et incarnatus est01:11
• 16Credo: Crucifixus02:27
• 17Credo: Et resurrexit01:50
• 18Credo: Et in Spiritum Sanctum04:32
• 19Sanctus: Sanctus01:46
• 20Sanctus: Hosanna01:31
• 21Benedictus: Benedictus00:49
• 22Benedictus: Hosanna01:35
• 23Agnus Dei: Agnus Dei01:48
• 24Agnus Dei: Dona nobis pacem02:02
• Antonio Bertali (1605-1669):
• 25Sonata a 13, A 540/IV:9404:10
• Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704):
• 26Sonata VI a 505:13
• Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1623-1680):
• 27Sonata XII a 704:23
• Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber:
• 28Sonata VIII a 505:23
• Antonio Bertali:
• 29Sonata Sancti Placidi a 14, A 548/IV:10206:10
• Total Runtime01:11:19

Info for Muffat: Missa in labore requies

This recording of Georg Muffat's monumental mass alongside church sonatas by his contemporaries creates a vivid impression of the imposing sacred music heard at leading Catholic courts during the High Baroque. The Abbey Church of Muri with its four galleries and its historical Bossart organs proves to be a performance venue with perfect acoustics for these polychoral works.

Georg Muffat's "Missa in labore requies" alongside church sonatas of his contemporaries make up audite's latest offering in the series of polychoral baroque music recorded by renowned Early Music performers.

With its octagonal layout and four galleries, the Abbey Church at Muri provides an ideal acoustic for performing polychoral music. The galleries surround the main body of the church, placing the audience in the midst of the musical event. This sound experience is unique, both in concert and in recordings. The considerable distance between the galleries creates challenges in the musical interaction of the different groups. At the same time, however, it forms part of the composition itself, for only through the spatial distance between the choirs is the music able to assume its intended expanse and grandeur. A suitable venue is therefore a deciding factor for the authentic performance of such works, superbly realised on this recording. The two historic Bossart organs of 1743 provide a true continuo foundation, making their mark on the impressive overall sound of the recording.

Georg Muffat's monumental "Missa in labore requies" is the composer's only surviving sacred work, comprising twenty-four voices allocated into five separate choirs. Muffat makes full use of the lavish scoring in this work which was doubtless written for an extremely prestigious occasion. The central splendour is repeatedly alternated with movements giving vocal soloists the opportunity to shine in virtuoso as well as expressive passages. The finest old style counterpoint stands alongside the modern concertato style, with piano passages of the great tutti echoes creating impressive effects: these are only surpassed by the muted trumpets and timpani accompanying the "passus et sepultus est" in a sombre funeral march.

Church sonatas for various scorings by Muffat's contemporaries round off this recording.

Miriam Feuersinger, Soprano
Stephanie Petitlaurent, Soprano
Alex Potter, Alto
William Purefoy, Alto
Hans Jörg Mammel, Tenor
Manuel Warwitz, Tenor
Markus Flaig, Bass
Lisandro Abadie, Bass
Cappella Murensis
Trompetenconsort Innsbruck
Les Cornets Noirs
Johannes Strobl, Direction

Cappella Murensis
The Cappella Murensis was founded by Johannes Strobl in 2002 as the professional vocal ensemble of the Abbey Church of Muri. According to the musical task in hand, the Cappella Murensis performs as an ensemble of vocal soloists, a chamber choir, or a Gregorian choir. One of the main focuses of Johannes Strobl and the Cappella Murensis is church music of the 16th to the 18th centuries, which is particularly suited to performance in the Abbey Church of Muri. In this period, the contribution of his- torical organs belongs of course de facto to the musical practice: alongside all forms of polychorality, particular attention is devoted to the connection between organ music and Gregorian chant that forms part of the Benedictine heritage of the Abbey Church of Muri.

With the Cappella Murensis, Johannes Strobl regularly organises performances of liturgical compositions that have been re-discovered in Swiss monasteries, which are also documented in radio recordings. Thus the ensemble has performed at the Festi- val international des musiques sacreés in Fribourg, at the International Bach Festival in Schaffhausen, in the banqueting hall of the monastery at Einsiedeln, in St. Gallen Cathedral, and at the Early Music Festival in Utrecht.

In collaboration with Thilo Hirsch and the ensemble arcimboldo, the Cappella Murensis has previously issued a recording of Johann Valentin Rathgeber’s “Missa solennis in D” op. 12/12 with audite. A second SACD, “Polychoral Splendour”, with polychoral works by Heinrich Schütz and Giovanni Gabrieli, was awarded the distinc- tion of the International Classical Music Award 2013.

Les Cornets Noirs
In recent years the instrumental ensemble Les Cornets Noirs, which specialises in Italian and German Early Baroque music, has made a name for itself internationally. Founded in 1997 by Gebhard David and Bork-Frithjof Smith, the main interest of the group lies in solo and ensemble literature for the cornett (It. cornetto, Fr. cornet – also called “black cornett” because of its leather covering), which experienced its hey-day from the middle of the 16th to the late 17th century north and south of the Alps.

Les Cornets Noirs were prize winners in the concours musica antiqua at the Festival van Vlaanderen Brugge 2000. Since then, the ensemble has performed at festivals in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, France, Luxemburg, Italy, and Portugal, both with their own programmes and in collaboration with vocal groups for the performance of large-scale Early Baroque works by Giovanni Gabrieli, Heinrich Schütz, Claudio Monteverdi, Georg Muffat, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, and their contemporaries.

Les Cornets Noirs have also already issued two successful recordings with audite („Echo & Risposta“ and „Polychoral Splendour“).

Johannes Strobl
The Austrian-born musician Johannes Strobl received his rst piano and organ lessons at the music school of Spittal an der Drau with Hermann Zeyß. He graduated from the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst “Mozarteum” in Salzburg with Heribert Metzger and was awarded distinctions in both his teaching and soloist di- ploma in organ and his advanced degree in Catholic Church Music. This was followed by comprehensive studies in Early Music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Jean-Claude Zehnder (organ), Jörg-Andreas Bötticher (harpsichord), Jesper Chris- tensen ( gured bass) and Rudolf Lutz (improvisation), and additional masterclasses with Michael Radulescu, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Harald Vogel, Almut Rössler and James David Christie.

Johannes Strobl was a prize winner at the Paul Hofhaimer competition in Innsbruck in 1998. His musical activities as a soloist and ensemble player have taken him to many European countries and further a eld to Israel, Japan, the US, Brasil, and Argentina.

Since 2001, Johannes Strobl has been employed as Director of Music of the Catholic parish of Muri in the Swiss canton of Aargau. In this role, he oversees the important historical organs of the church of the former Benedictine monastery and is artistic director of a distinguished concert series. He also teaches Improvisation and Liturgical Organ Playing at the Hochschule Luzern in the music faculty’s department of church music.

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